On April 19, I had the honour of being the keynote speaker at the 2018 Leaders of Tomorrow Awards event held at the Cochrane RancheHouse and sponsored by CANLIN ENERGY, Volunteer Alberta, Cochrane Family and Community Support Services, Alberta Government and The Town of Cochrane. In total, 20 students from Cochrane elementary, middle and high schools received the award for their endeavours in science, music, art, sport and philanthropy. While I would love to share with you the achievements of every student, that would take two full pages and I’m allowed half a page. So here is a taste of what some of these student have done: Brent Traudt is a Grade 2 student who over a four week period raised almost $1,200 for the Fireside School playground, moving the Fireside School community closer to its goal of having a place where all kids can play. Eliza Housman is a middle school student and competitive swimmer with the University of Calgary Swim Club. Since 2015, Eliza has donated her birthday celebrations to Children’s Birthday Miracles. She has wrapped Christmas gifts at the Our Lady Queen of Peace Ranch Annual Christmas Party, collected non-perishable food items for the Cochrane Food Bank, and participates in the Inn from the Cold Community Program monthly. Jonas Prudden and Levis Schmidtke are two high school students who wanted to experiment with their school's 3D printer to make a hand. It turned out an 11-year-old girl at Elizabeth Barrett School actually was in need of one. For $50 they created a prosthetic device that operates like a hand. The girl, who was born with an underdeveloped left hand, absolutely loves the device and so do her peers. Chelsea Luft is a high school student who has raised $10,000 to build a classroom in Kenya to improve the opportunity for education in that country. She is an active member of Cochrane High School's Blood Drive Challenge and the Sustainable Development Committee. Chelsea has been a role model in the leadership program at Cochrane High School. Tupaj Parrado, a high school student, has been a huge supporter of the Cochrane Public Library for many years and is an incredible library advocate and young volunteer. Through his efforts, he has raised awareness about the library to his fellow teens, helped grow the libraries young adult collection, and has been an indispensable member of the Medieval Day crew. Kassidy Gerhardi is a high school student who volunteers with Helping Hands and is a youth representative on the Cochrane Immigration Society. She is a very active member of her high school leadership program and has pioneered a mentoring program to help with the growing population issue in her school. She is the youth recipient of the Canada’s 150th award and the 2017 Cochrane Youth of the Year. I may not be able to list everything they’ve done but I can name the other students that got the award: Thomas Sopher, Kiana Campbell, Mackenzie Eichinger, Hannah Godard, Jocelyn Eckert, Karly Macaulay, William Maxwell, Ethan Noble, Kaitlyn Paltzat, Angellana Patterson, Ben Ponting, Santana Shukin, Kyra Yeske and Kyra Yeske. Being in that room with those young people was an inspiration to me. Age is not a prerequisite for leadership. Leadership is demonstrating positive outcomes by your actions. In reality these students are Leaders of Today.
